Goh Tong a great M'sian, says PM

GENTING HIGHLANDS: Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong’s success story is a great inspiration for young people, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

“He worked as hard as a coolie and he had said he is the number one coolie in his company,” said Abdullah, adding that Lim, who came to Malaya to start a new life as a young man, had succeeded “beyond imagination” and became a great Malaysian.

“Lim also made friends with all levels of society,” he told reporters after paying his last respects to the Genting Group founder at Gohtong Villa here Thursday.

Abdullah, who arrived at 6pm, spent an hour there. Lim’s sons, Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay and Chee Wah, accompanied Abdullah for a tour around the home.

Photographers were also allowed to snap pictures of certain parts of the villa, giving a rare glimpse into Lim’s house. The sons took Abdullah to a balcony in the villa, a spot where Lim had loved as he could look at a koi fishpond below.

Abdullah also penned his remarks in a book placed beneath a giant oil portrait of Lim.

Lim died on Tuesday, at the age of 90. Kok Thay said his father died at the Subang Jaya Medical Centre where he was admitted two days before that.

Dubbed the “Casino King,” Lim arrived in Malaya in 1937 after a 10-day voyage from China with only US$2 in his pocket. He persevered to become one of the richest men in the world.

In 1968, he founded Genting Bhd, which was granted the only casino licence by the Government. The funeral will be held on Monday.

Source : TheStar

Buses to carry missing girl's posters

PENANG: Posters of Recka, the 10-year-old girl who went missing after going to a shop to buy a VCD on Monday, will be put up at public places on the island and on Rapid Penang buses.

State police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Koh Hong Sun said the bus company approached the police yesterday morning offering to help find the little girl.

“More than 650 posters will be put up tomorrow. We hope someone has spotted the Year Four schoolgirl who went missing three days ago,” he said.

He said police also went on radio this morning to urge listeners to call the police’s hotline (04-2691999) if they come across the fair-skinned 92cm-tall girl with shoulder-length hair. The girl was last seen leaving her house in Kampong Kolam wearing a white T-shirt and a pair of white shorts with Ultraman and Spider-Man pictures on them.

Also present at the conference was George Town OCPD Asst Comm Azam Abd Hamid who said police had visited the girl’s relatives and friends but she was not there.

He said the public could also call 04-228 2222, 012-4900 999, 04-218 8880 or 016-639 6784 (Insp Wan Salmina Wan Jusoh), the investigating officer.

On Monday, Recka had asked for RM5 from her stepfather, Ahmad Omar, 49, to buy a VCD featuring her favourite Indian singers at about 9pm.

Ahmad, a second hand goods trader, gave her the money.

“I started to worry when she failed to return home by midnight. I stayed up until 4am before contacting my wife, a cleaner at a Bayan Lepas factory.

“She rushed home and we went to the Central police station to make a report,” he said.

Salma Sellamah Abdullah, 41, said her daughter liked going to Komtar, Prangin Mall and Penang Road to window shop.

“We searched these three places and showed shop owners pictures of my daughter but to no avail,” she said.

“I am afraid that something could have happened to her. There has not been any quarrel or fights which could have caused her to run away,” she said.

Rekha, a pupil at the SK Island in Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, is the sixth in the family of seven.

Rapid Penang chief executive officer Azahar Ahmad said posters measuring 61cm by 61cm (2ft x 2ft) would be put up in the company’s fleet of 150 buses by today.

Source : TheStar

Mat rempit rams JPJ officer at roadblock

POH: A Perak Road Transport Department (JPJ) enforcement officer is in hospital with a broken leg and an injured head after a mat rempit knocked him down at a roadblock.

This is the third time in the state that officers manning roadblocks have been hit while checking on motorcyclists since the start of Ops Sikap XIII on Oct 7. In the two previous incidents, the officers were unhurt.

“We just want to save lives but it is unfair for us to be treated like this,” said a clearly upset JPJ enforcement director Salim Parlan after visiting Perak’s senior enforcement assistant Wan Asmadi Wan Ahmad at the hospital here Saturday.

“This has strengthened our resolve to go all out against the Mat Rempit and we will step up our enforcement,” he added.

At 10.15pm on Friday, an 18-year-old motorcyclist knocked down Wan Asmadi, 36, who tried to stop the suspect at a roadblock outside Sri Kinta Building at Jalan Sultan Idris Shah.

The motorcyclist and his friend, on separate machines, made a U-turn when they saw the roadblock manned by 50 JPJ officers.

However, the motorcyclist was caught and is detained. He too sought treatment in the hospital. His friend escaped.

Wan Asmadi said officers in Butterworth also had a tough time when dealing with abusive bus drivers.

“We are just doing our job to help save lives. We are not enforcing the law to punish the people,” he added.

He said this was the first time he had been injured so badly during his 13-year service at the JPJ but it would not break his spirit to continue performing his duty.

Salim said over 600 motorcycles had been seized under Ops Sikap XIII for various offences.

He added that there were 2,500 cases of motorists found committing major offences like beating the red lights and jumping queues, during Ops Samaran held from Oct 7 to 18.

Photographs of the offenders had been taken and the summonses were being sent out to them, he said.

Source : TheStar

RM1.2mil diesel seized from barge

MIRI: The marine police in northern Sarawak seized more than RM1.2 million worth of suspected illegal diesel from a cargo barge that was on its way from Labuan Island to Sarawak’s northern-most division of Limbang.

A marine enforcement unit on board a patrol boat intercepted this barge in the wee hours of Saturday while it was in the South China Sea en route to Limbang town, some 350km north of here.

Officers who boarded the barge found a huge reserve of diesel, about 500,000 litres, stored inside the cargo compartment of the barge.

Northern Sarawak marine police chief Deputy Supt Christopher Goh yesterday confirmed the seizure.

"We found that the consignment of diesel on board did not have any proper documentation to certify the source of the fuel and whether it is subsidised or commercial fuel.

“We also arrested the seven crew members on board. The captain and the engineer are Malaysian while the rest are Indonesian,” he said.

“Based on initial details gathered so far, the barge is a Malaysian-registered vessel,” he said.

DSP Goh said the marine police will seek the help of the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry to determine whether the diesel seized was subsidised diesel or commercial diesel.

Source : TheStar

Angkasawan will have hard ‘soft landing’

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian Angkasawan Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor landing on earth is being described as a “soft landing” but he is still going to feel quite a hard jolt upon impact.

Retired Nasa astronaut Robert “Hoot” Gibson said although the term “soft landing” was being used, it was not going to be really soft.

He said a parachute would slow the spacecraft down, and a breaking rocket would fire just before touching the ground, there would still be a jolt when it touched the ground.

“It is described as a ‘soft landing’, but it’s a fairly hard ‘soft landing’,” he said in an interview.

The spacecraft would be descending at a speed of over 200m per second and parachutes would slow it down to about 20mps, he said.

Breaking rockets would slow it down further to 2 to 3mps just before it hits the ground.

The Soyuz spacecraft carrying Dr Sheikh Muszaphar will be undocking from the International Space Station at 3.15pm Malaysian time.

At 3.21pm, the Soyuz jets will be fired to begin departure from the ISS, and at about 5.50pm, Soyuz computers will initiate re-entry manoeuvres.

At 6.20pm, the spacecraft will break into three modules – orbital, instrumentation, and descent. The crew will be in the descent module.

At 6.23pm, the crew will feel the effects of gravity and parachutes will open.

They are scheduled to land at 6.30pm in the swampy area of Arkylk in Kazakhstan. Helicopters and amphibious vehicles will pick them up.

“When Dr Sheikh comes back, he will have had an experience of a lifetime. He’s going to say, ‘I want to go again’.

“And so we’re going to have to find another trip for him because, believe me, he’s not going to be satisfied with just going just once,” Gibson said.

Source : TheStar

Watch the Soyuz TMA-II launch on Wednesday

KUALA LUMPUR: The whole nation will get to see what is destined to be the most famous countdown for Malaysians when the country’s first astronaut launches into space today.

Astro, which will cover the space mission over its 24-hour dedicated channel Angkasa1 (Channel 588) till Oct 20, will make its live programmes available to the other Malaysian broadcasters.

There will be telecasts of the blast-off from Baikonur, Kazakhstan and other major events over all TV channels, which will also air documentaries and special crossovers to various locations for the latest news on the space mission as well as congratulatory messages from well-wishers.

The Russian Soyuz TMA-II spaceship that will carry a new crew to the International Space Station will include Malaysia’s own Angkasawan, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor.

While Astro will carry the event round the clock, the other TV stations will mainly carry the updates through their regular news bulletins.

Over at Dataran Merdeka here, City Hall will show over its giant screens all the space programmes from Astro’s Channel 588.

The main TV schedules events are:

Oct 10, Wednesday

6.30pm: Live telecast of the launching of the first Malaysian Angkasawan mission at KL Convention Centre

9.00pm: Live coverage of the space launch from Kazakhstan

(Repeats on Oct 11 at 9am, 1pm, 5pm, 9pm)

Oct 12, Friday

9.30pm: Live Soyuz docking with the International Space Station (ISS)

(Repeats on Oct 13 at 9am, 1pm, 5pm and 9pm)

Oct 14, Sunday

8pm: Live interview between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Dr Sheikh Muszaphar at the ISS

Oct 15, Monday

7.30pm: News conference by ISS crew

8.30pm: Live interview between Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Dr Sheikh Muszaphar

Oct 20, Saturday

11.30am: Live coverage of closing of hatch ceremony

4.30pm - 6.30pm: De-orbit burn and any landing coverage

(Please note that the times are subject to change)

Source : TheStar

Sheikh Muszaphar set to be first Malaysian in space

By JANE RITIKOS

BAIKONUR (Kazakhstan): Hospital UKM’s Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor will make history when he goes into space on board the Russian Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft at 9.22pm (Malaysian time) today.

“It’s a small step for me, but a great leap for the Malaysian people,’’ Dr Sheikh Muszaphar – the first Malaysian to go into space – told the Associated Press, rephrasing Neil Armstrong’s legendary words after the Apollo landing on the moon in 1969.

He will spend 10 days in space, including eight on board the Inter-national Space Station (ISS) where he will be part of the ISS Expedition16 crew.

The TMA-11 craft carrying the 35-year-old doctor and his flight mates – Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and American astronaut Peggy Whitson – is scheduled to dock at the ISS at 10.51pm (local time) on Friday.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Cabinet Ministers and 280 students will watch the live broadcast of the launch at the KL Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur tonight.

On Sunday, Abdullah will hold a teleconference with Dr Sheikh Muszaphar who will then be on board the ISS.

Another first for the Malaysian Angkasawan is that he will be hosting a Hari Raya party on board the space station on the first day of Syawal. He has taken satay and some kuih Raya to treat the others on board.

At the ISS, he will carry out four experiments drawn up by Malaysian scientists.

Dr Sheikh Muszaphar is to study of the effects of microgravity and space radiation on cells and microbes, as well as experiments with proteins for a potential HIV vaccine.

The rocket – adorned with a Malaysian flag and coat of arms and carrying the Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft – was moved on Monday to the launch pad from its assembly site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which Russia rents from Kazakhstan.

Malaysia is paying for the voyage as part of a billion-dollar purchase of Russian fighter jets.

Russia built the cosmodrome on the arid plains of Kazakhstan during Soviet times and has continued to use the site under a rental deal since the 1991 Soviet collapse.

Russia is marking 50 years of space exploration, having celebrated on Oct 4 the 50th anniversary of the launch of the first ever satellite, Sputnik.

Dr Sheikh Muszaphar is to return to Earth on Oct 21 with two Russian members of the current space station crew.

Whitson and Malenchenko will stay on as the station’s new crew, and will be joined in October by American astronaut Daniel Tani, who is arriving with the shuttle Discovery. Tani will replace fellow American Clayton Anderson, who has been at the station since June.

Source : TheStar

Skali to put unemployed ICT grads to work

KUALA LUMPUR: If you are an ICT (information and communications technology) graduate and having a hard time getting a job, e-business specialist Skali has an offer for you.

It will train you and give you a job in the Managed Portal Services (MPS) project, which involves the maintainance and upgrading of the 102 state government and 471 federal government websites.

Skali announced that it was awarded the six-year project, which is worth RM258mil, on Wednesday and has openings for 4,000 graduates in its training programme.

Through the programme, called Spike (short for Skali Pioneers and Innovators in Knowledge Economy), the company hopes to help unemployed graduates further develop their ICT knowledge and become entrepreneurs.

"The trainees will undergo practical training in multimedia and business, programming, IT networking systems, and project management," said Aimi Aizal Nasharuddin, president of Skali (also known as Alam Teknokrat Sdn Bhd).

During the first three months, the trainees will be paid an allowance of RM500 per month. Once they reach apprentice stage, they will receive salaries of between RM1,200 and RM4,000, depending on their level of skill and competency.

The training will be conducted at MPS support centres in Selangor, Terengganu, Kedah, Pahang, Johor and Perak, and has already started with a group of 300 graduates.

Applicants should surf to www.spike.com.my for more information.

Aimi said that at the end of the contract period, more than 400 companies would be set up to take over the managing of the government websites.

"The graduates we train will get the opportunity to become entrepreneurs because they will be encouraged to form those companies," he said. Skali will also outsource other work to them.

There is an estimated 8,000 unemployed ICT graduates in the country, out of an overall 150,000 graduates in total looking for jobs.

According to Skali, the lack of working experience and "very bad English" are the main reasons why there are so many unemployed ICT graduates.

"If they sign up for Spike, we will be upfront and tell them where they are going wrong so that they can improve," said Skali co-founder and group CEO Tengku Farith Rithauddeen.

The programme, he added, is also designed to push these graduates out of their comfort zone so that they will start to strive for themselves.

Source : Thestar

Baby dies in fire, 2 brothers escape

By RASHITHA A. HAMID

KUALA LUMPUR: A one-and-a-half-year-old baby girl died after a fire razed her home at the Jalan San Peng flats near here on Sunday afternoon.

Neighbours managed to save the baby’s two brothers, aged three and four, who were also in the house by pulling them out through the window in the 1.35pm incident.

It is learnt that the mother, a divorcee, who had gone out to meet her friends had locked her three children in the house before leaving for work.

Pudu Fire and Rescue department operation officer Mohd Ramali Arbai said his department received a call from the public at 1.37pm and fire engines reached the scene in two minutes.

“We found the baby’s remains near the bed in the main room with blisters on her hands, legs and face,” he said when met at the scene.

According to Mohd Ramali, his officers took about 20 minutes to put out the fire. The department is still investigating the cause of the fire.

The body of the baby girl has been sent to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital for a post-mortem.

Cops release photofits

KUALA LUMPUR: Police have released the photofits of a man and a woman, said to be locals, in connection with the abduction-cum-brutal murder of eight-year-old Nurin Jazlin Jaziman.

The photofits were produced from descriptions given by the public.

The man is between 35 and 40, 168cm tall, with fair complexion. He went to housing areas in Bangsar inquiring about a room to rent for himself and his daughter.

He approached numerous house owners around the time Nurin went missing.

The woman is in her 20s, 153cm tall, with shoulder-length hair and had worn a red dress when she was seen near a dark-blue Diadora sports bag in which Nurin’s body was found at a shoplot in Petaling Utama on Sept 17. The woman was seen in the afternoon, a day before we found Nurin’s body.

When asked if a child pornography syndicate was behind the crime, Comm Christopher said that police were investigating all possible angles.

Speaking at a press conference, he said the culprit or culprits could also be responsible for the Kampung Baru molest cases, in which two girls, aged five and six, had been lured by the promise of ice-cream.

The girls were then molested and had brinjals forced into their private parts before being released several hours later.

Comm Christopher also confirmed that the four men detained in Shah Alam in connection with Nurin’s case last Thursday were released at 4pm on Monday.

He refused to reveal why the four, aged between 27 and 35, were released even though their remand order was to end on Oct 4.

“We are still waiting for their DNA test results but released them based on other evidence,” he said.

Comm Christopher said this leaves only the 23-year-old Indonesian woman detained on Saturday at a stall in Nilai still in custody.

“She is being detained at the University Malaya Medical Centre where doctors are trying to retrieve the subscriber identification module (SIM) card that she swallowed when she was taken to court for remand,” he said.

The woman is believed to have sent SMSes to a police hotline number, claiming that Nurin was in her custody days after the girl went missing on Aug 20 following a trip to a night market.

When met at his house, Nurin Jazlin's father Jazimin Abdul Jalil said he did not recognise the two faces. He also asked whether the police had said if the two people were foreigners or locals.

His wife, Norazian Bistaman, hoped that the police would find the two soon.

Nurin's badly bruised body was found stuffed in a sports bag in Jalan PJS1/48 in Petaling Jaya on Sept 17.

A post-mortem revealed that she had been sexually assaulted with a cucumber and brinjal.

Federal CID director Comm Datuk Christopher Wan Soo Kee said anyone who had seen a person carrying the bag between Sept 16 and 17 in the area to should contact the police immediately.

Source : The Star

Kuala Terengganu airport to get international status

KUALA TERENGGANU: The Sultan Mahmud Airport here will be awarded international status allowing Jumbo Jets to land and depart, to balance the ambitious East Coast Economic Region (ECER) project for the state.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said the airport would be the first with such a status in the east coast region. “The airport will complement ECER as Terengganu is earmarked as a tourism gateway and educational hub under the blueprint,” he said after chairing the weekly state Exco meeting here, Wednesday.

Idris said the airport's new complex is expected to be operational soon while currently the airport’s runway extension project, covering a length of 2,800m, is underway and the state government submitted another proposal to extend the runway an additional 600m.

He said apart from the airport, Kuala Terengganu will be turned into a hub to ferry tourists to resort islands.

Currently tourists have to board ferries at Merchang, Kuala Besut and Marang jetties to get to these islands and only the only boat to Redang is from the Kuala Terengganu Dataran Shahbandar jetty.

Idris said more jetties would be constructed if the need arose and the waterway will be deepened to allow passenger boats to berth close to the current jetty.

Source : The Star

Police on hunt for medium who raped children

SEGAMAT: Police are on the hunt for a self-proclaimed medium, who allegedly molested, raped and snapped nude photos of children.

Segamat Deputy OCPD Supt Ahmad Sukarno Mohd Zahari said the suspect, in his 40s, has gone missing.

He said police went to the suspect's house in Jalan Abdullah but no one was at home.

He said investigations were carried out following a police report lodged over the medium.

The suspect was said to have moved into a single-storey house several months ago.

His actions were uncovered after photos of him kissing girls as well as nude photos of his followers - men, women and children - were widely distributed here.

A father, who is also a friend of the medium, was shocked when he saw the nude photo of his 10-year-old daughter.

He queried the girl and was stunned when she told him that the photo was taken by her 13-year-old brother; he had been forced to do so by the medium.

It is learnt the girl had been raped by the medium at least six times.

Police urged other victims to lodge a report to assist investigations.

DSP Ahmad Sukarno also urged those with information on the suspect's whereabouts to contact the Rakan Cop hotline at 07-221-2999 or the district police headquarters at 07-932-1222.

Source : TheStar